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Friday, August 24, 2012

A Jackie Chan film with Less Action - Shinjuku Incident

Shinjuku Incident (2009) - Hong Kong

Cast: Jackie Chan, Daniel Wu

Direction: Derek Yee

Genre: Drama, Crime, gangster

Jackie Chan, the action king is
the favorite star of most action freaks. He has attracted the kids and teens by
the funny actions he does in his films. It’s rare if action freaks don’t like
him. Likewise it is rarer if we see him deviating from his usual and typecast action
movies. Isn’t it? Yes. After acting in numerous action films and having
achieved an unbreakable action hero image, Chan turned his focus towards drama
with powerful story and least action.

The plot follows the
rise and fall of Chinese immigrant workers into gangsters amidst the native
Japanese clans. Chan plays Zhao aka Stealhead, an illegal immigrant from a Chinese
village among many others, and does odd jobs for living. He wants to get legal
status in Japan and protect the fellow immigrants from native gangsters’
assault and law enforces. After a couple of conflicts with native Yakuzas and
Thai gangsters, he rises to prominence as the boss of his fellow immigrants.

Shinjuku Incident is a heavy
drama with least action. The plot is dark and set in an amazing manner, with Chan in a
completely different and ‘never seen before’ performance. He delivers a stand
out, laudable performance and steals the show. I must say that this is the best
film of Chan’s career. It was produced by Chan himself. I wondered why Chan hasn’t acted in movies like this
before. Also this is the most violent of all his
movies, with some brutal killings and bloodshed. But it suits very well to the
tone of the film. Added to Chan, the supporting cast also gave more than
average performance. Chan’s ex lover and his present lover, inspector Kitano,
gang leader Eguchi, and fellow immigrant Jie did their roles above the mark. The
film tells a moral truth that newly found power and money makes people tend to
become corrupt, sinister, and aggressive and lose their control. Trusts, love,
deceit, defeat, guilt, regret, all of these are in Shinjuku. The film has more
dialogues and emotional expressions rather than fist fights, martial arts and
chases. There are of course fights in the movie of course, but not Chan’s usual
comical type.

Chan’s and hardcore action fans
may get disappointed if they expect much action like his earlier movies Police
Story, First Strike, etc. Those who are very much fond of dramas, this is
highly recommended. Please do watch the Hong Kong version. The English dubbing is not so good.

'The Karate Kid' is actually an american production. usually american productions are well marketed despite its quality. and also there is jackie chan and will smith's son. so it got global exposure. but this one is an asian production.. usually most good asian movies don't get wide exposure, like this one..